Seamans on the Hot Seat

The next morning, April 14, Robert Seamans and George Low appeared before the committee, and were subject to even more intense pressure. Seamans in particular put himself in a vulnerable position with respect to administration policy, saying that although there were no plans at that time to ask Congress for funding for Project Apollo, the post-Mercury human space flight effort, it might indeed be possible with an accelerated effort to land on the Moon by 1967. Seamans noted that doing so would require “a very major undertaking. To compress the program by 3 years [the date of the first lunar landing in the recently revised NASA planning was 1970] means that greatly increased funding would be required. . . I certainly cannot state that this is an impossible objective. It comes down to a matter of national policy.” Seamans added that he would be “the first to review it wholeheart­edly to see what it would take to do the job. My estimate at the moment is that the goal may very well be achievable.” Seamans was, of course, well aware of the February report of George Low’s committee that had said that a lunar landing within the decade was technologically feasible; he was also aware of Kennedy’s decision in March not to approve additional funding for human space flight beyond Project Mercury, even as he provided addi­tional funding for larger space boosters. Seamans’s comments, coming just as the committee and the media were calling for an accelerated space effort, appeared to be adding NASA pressure on the president to the pressure com­ing from the House committee and the media; this was an uncomfortable position for Seamans to be in. He recalls that “it was unwise for an underling to get out ahead of the President.”15

Indeed, President Kennedy was not at all happy to read in the next day’s newspapers that a NASA official had made public statements that seemed to preempt what would necessarily be a presidential decision. The Washington Post headline read “Reaching the Moon First Would Cost Billions” and its story began, “A multi-billion dollar crash space program might put an American on the Moon by 1967—a top Government official said yesterday.” The New York Times headlined its report on Seamans’ testimony “costly drive might bring landing by ‘67.” Administrator Webb got both a message from budget director David Bell and a “strongly worded” letter from Kenneth O’Donnell asking about the testimony; O’Donnell was one of the presi­dent’s top assistants and his policy “enforcer.” For a few days, Seamans’ job was in real jeopardy, but Webb was able to calm the White House concern. In a letter to O’Donnell, Webb noted that the committee was in a “runaway mood” and that “the members of the Committee, almost without exception, were in a mood to try to find someone responsible for losing the race to the Russians” and were seeking information “that would focus public attention on the Committee, and the role it had chosen for itself as the goad to force a large increase in the program.” He defended Robert Seamans, saying that he had done “an exceptionally fine job” of resisting the committee’s inquiries with respect to NASA’s relations with the Bureau of the Budget (BOB)and the president.16